Deep work: 10-minute letting go meditation, early on

About this practice

A 10-minute letting go session for deep work, early on. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: deep work

Deep work requires a low distraction floor. Modern work rarely provides one, so the transition into it has to be manufactured.

It tends to show up as:

• Getting interrupted every few minutes
• Starting five things and finishing none
• Feeling busy but not productive

A short deliberate transition tells the body the next stretch is different. Without one, the previous meeting follows you in.

Doing this in the morning

• Do it before checking your phone — the first minutes set the tone for the rest
• Sitting up is better than lying down, or you will drift back to sleep
• Light on your face helps more than any practice

Mornings can become a performance of productive habits. This one does not need to be done well.

How letting go works

Letting go is about loosening grip rather than dropping things. It works on the effort attached to a problem — the holding, rehearsing and bracing — which is separable from the problem itself.

• Pick one thing you are gripping and loosen a single finger
• Release the effort with the exhale, not the issue
• Set down temporarily; you can pick it up again after

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Let the floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second.
2. 0:15We are not solving anything in the next few minutes. We are setting it down, temporarily.
3. 0:30There's no correct speed. Slower isn't better. Steadier is the only aim.
4. 0:43There's a difference between relaxing and stopping. We're aiming for the second one, gently.
5. 0:57Notice the small pause before your body decides to breathe in again.
6. 1:10Let your breathing be boring. Boring is good here.
7. 1:21Notice the backs of your knees, which you feel more than you think.
8. 1:34Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
9. 1:47Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
10. 1:59Now the right shoulder. Let it be a centimetre lower than it was.
11. 2:12Feel the weight of the open tabs of your attention somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
12. 2:29Think of the pull of notifications as a guest that arrived without knocking. You can let it stand in the hallway.
13. 2:46Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
14. 2:57Ask yourself what you could stop holding for the next sixty seconds. That one is a good start.
15. 3:13A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
16. 3:24If you feel emotional, you don't have to explain it to anyone, including yourself.
17. 3:38Pick one thing you are gripping — a plan, a worry, a grudge — and loosen a single finger.
18. 3:54A short silence. Let it be empty.
19. 4:04If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
20. 4:17You have been carrying this competently for a while. A few minutes off will not undo that.
21. 4:32Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
22. 4:43Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
23. 4:58No rush to move on.
24. 5:07Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
25. 5:18Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
26. 5:32Stay here a little longer.
27. 5:41Notice the space between your shoulder blades.
28. 5:51Notice the first breath of the day versus this one. They're the same mechanism.
29. 6:05Just the breath, still.
30. 6:14Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
31. 6:26Let the breath get soft, the way it goes when someone is reading beside you.
32. 6:40A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
33. 6:51Notice where the task that needs a clear head lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
34. 7:10When the open tabs of your attention arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
35. 7:29Let your breathing get quieter rather than deeper.
36. 7:40Say to yourself: this is uncomfortable, and I can stay with it for one more breath. Then take that breath.
37. 7:57If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
38. 8:11Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
39. 8:23Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
40. 8:35Setting something down is not the same as giving up. You can pick it up again after.
41. 8:50Remain here for a few more breaths.
42. 9:00Come back to your body first, and the rest of the day second.
43. 9:13When you stand up, do it slowly. There's no reason to hurry.
44. 9:26Let the quiet do its work.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.